


Smoke And Mirrors

by Shade_Penn1



Series: Ultimateverse Re-Imaginings [4]
Category: Marvel, Supernatural, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Reality, Family Drama, Father-Son Relationship, M/M, Male Friendship, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-08
Updated: 2012-05-20
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shade_Penn1/pseuds/Shade_Penn1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: Clint had never before been resposible for taking care of another, but this small, strangely powerful child really made him think he could. Even if this lead him down the path of things he'd never expect to happen.</p>
<p>This kid was his and he wasn't letting him go without a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shattered

Joey curled under his bed and kept his eyes tightly shut and while he had only been doing this beforehand to hide from his parents shouting, but now he was hiding because of the screaming from downstairs and the unnatural silence that followed.

The young child wrapped his arms tightly around his head as he heard the footsteps come into his room and he closed his amber eyes as he saw the feet stop at the foot of his bed and remained absolutely still. He didn’t notice the change in the area around him before he heard the footsteps leaving and soon the smell of smoke hit his nose. 

His eyes snapped open before he scrambled out from under his bed and ran out of the room, stopping when he saw the flames from the downstairs and the burning corpses of what were his parents. He shuddered and didn’t know what to do. He was only five and he didn’t know what to do, but something in his mind told him to ‘get out of here.’ 

The blond ran out down the steps and flinched at the flames, but blinked when he didn’t feel any pain despite his clothing edge getting singed, but in his mind, he didn’t care and needed to get out. Joey watched his home getting burned and he felt the need to run, and before he realized it, he was running away from the scene.

Joey didn’t know how to feel about this, on the one hand, he was sad that his parents were dead, but on the other hand, his parents were exactly the best examples of parental figures and they fought constantly with each other. The little boy ran until his legs gave out and he collapsed on something in an alley before he felt it move and he looked up into a pair of wide blue eyes.

Joey froze up and the area changed once more, the eyes taking on a look of confusion.

\-------------------------------------------

For the umpteenth time in the day, Clint cursed himself. He’d missed his brother leaving, and then he finds out the circus had moved on without him because they had probably thought he was leaving as well. So now he was stuck out on the street, but even this was better than the orphanage he’d grown up in before running away to the circus with his older brother.

It was every kid’s dream, he thought it was anyway, and for a while, he’d liked it. There were interesting people to meet, but none of them really seemed to know how to relate to children despite entertaining them, to which he’d become a popular act as he was young and his shtick was mildly entertaining. 

Now though, he didn’t even have his bow as he lay on the cardboard box and old blankets he’d scrounged up for himself. He kept himself half alert, fully prepared to face whoever was stupid enough to think he might be an easy target. 

Though a little boy, practically still a baby, falling on top of him was not something he’d been expecting. 

He stared at the kid, the kid staring back before he seemed to vanish right before his eyes, but from the weight on his stomach, he knew the kid was still there. He thought about ignoring the kid until he just went away, but seeing such a little kid out on the street twisted something in his stomach, like an uncomfortable memory. 

“Kid? You still there?” Clint questioned, and while he knew the kid was in fact still there, he figured trying to reach out for him wasn’t the best idea. He felt the weight move off him and looked up when he heard a crash of the garbage bags and saw the kid reappear as he stared at the blond in wide-eyed terror.

Oh boy, how old was this kid and where the hell were his parents? He felt his previous assumption of this kid being practically still a baby was spot on, as he certainly looked young enough. 

“Kid, you alright?” Clint questioned again, but wanted to slap himself at his own stupidity again. The kid was on the street, of course he wasn’t okay. The wind picked up a little, and while it really didn’t bother him, he saw the kid shiver violently for a moment and an idea popped into his head. “Well, you can stay there and stare all you want, but I’m going to sleep.” He said pointedly laying the blankets on the ground near the kid before lying back on his side and closed his eyes. 

Joey stared at the…well; he really didn’t know what the person was. He knew what an adult was, as both his parents were adults, but what did you call someone who still looked too young to be one? Were they still adults? He was going with ‘no’ because adults were mean and they mistreated him, so he wouldn’t immediately label this…boy with that title. 

The blond felt the wind pick up again and he shivered, the cold something he really didn’t like and looked down at the pile of blankets before biting his lip. Should he? ‘Yes’ was the answer he received and if he couldn’t trust anything else, than he’d trust himself at the very least. He got off the pile of garbage bags and wrapped himself in the blankets, while not being completely of the best material, he certainly felt warmer, and the though the tragedy of what had happened earlier was still fresh in his mind, he didn’t want to think about it. 

Clint peered through a half-lidded eye to check if the baby was still sitting in the garbage, only to feel mildly surprised that he was wrapped up in the blankets, but that had been the idea after all. He’d had his brother to look out for him, who did this kid have? 

The blond shook his head slightly as he tried not to start feeling any sense of sympathy, because that would only lead to attachment, and he had to get this kid to someplace safe, like a hospital or a fire station he could leave him at, but were there any near? He didn’t know, and decided it was better to wait for morning so not to be wandering around all night.

He lifted the box up so it made shelter of shorts and moved to gently pick the baby up and put him in the crevice, that way no one could see him and try to snatch him up. He might not want to get too attached, but he’d be damned if he was going to let that happen. He laid back down and used his arm as a pillow before closing his eyes again, and soon his half sleep turned into full sleep as he drifted into unconsciousness. 

\-------------------------------------------------------

Joey felt his face grow warm and he opened his eyes to see the sun glaring in his eyes from under the box he was partially under and he blinked until his vision cleared up and he saw the…boy was lying on the ground from the night before, not having given any indication of moving beforehand. 

The five year old noticed the white Denny’s bag in front of the box and peeked around, and upon seeing no one, opened the bag and the scent of bagels hit his nose and he peered into the bag before taking one out and it was still warm. He was about to bite into it when he heard the boy make a groaning sound and his eyes opened sleepily and his face scrunched up, no doubt from the sunlight. 

The boy stared up at him before looking at the bag and his brow furrowed. “Where…where did that come from?”

Joey had a feeling he was just speaking aloud so he didn’t answer. 

Clint felt the bottom of the bag. “It’s still warm.” He muttered and began looking around. “Which meant someone was here.”

Joey wondered if the boy always talked to himself, but he was making a good point. Where did the food come from? Though he was hungry, and he couldn’t very well go home. He reached out and tentatively patted him on the shoulder before reeling back when the boy looked at him. He shyly offered up the bagel in his hand before the boy raised his hand and Joey flinched back as his father did the same thing before his face hurt.

Clint frowned at the boy’s flinch and lowered his hand, thinking it was better if he didn’t make any gestures that could be taken the wrong way. He had seen his fair share of it and the baby’s reaction told him all he needed to know. “Eat it, we’re in no position to pass up free food.” He said plainly, but was still on alert for any movement. 

He wasn’t stupid after all.

\--------------------------------------------------

The baby still hadn’t said anything, though he hadn’t resisted to holding his hand when they had to leave, because there had been no way he was staying in that alley. Waking up to breakfast was not something he was used to, and it was time to leave the boy someplace he could be found and taken to safety. 

Upon chance, he found a firehouse, but it looked to be deserted. “Dam-darn,” he quickly corrected in sight of the child’s fragile ears, “I guess I can’t very well leave you here.” He joked, but the kid looked at him in terror and he wanted to slap himself again for how that sounded. 

Joking as a defense mechanism was something he’d become accustomed to using, but he reminded himself that whatever caused this kid to go silent and left him out on the street probably wasn’t good.

“You see, I was only going to leave you here because there’s still a chance for you to have a life, for me…eh, not so much.” He amended, but the kid still didn’t look any better. “But…seeing as there’s no one here, I guess you’re stuck with me I guess.” He tried to sound nonchalant about it, but the way the kid’s hand griped his a little bit more tightly and something that looked suspiciously like hope made Clint’s chest clench uncomfortably.

Looks like him not getting attached to this baby was failing badly. 

“I guess though I should tell you my name, I’m Clint, what’s your name?” The older blond asked, but the kid remained silent. “Well, I’ll call you Kid, until you decide to let me know your name, how’s that?” he figured it had something to do with trauma or trust, or even both with why the Kid was staying so quiet.

The young boy nodded though, that was a good indication he at least understood what he was saying. The too serious expression that came over his little face looked so out of place on a child so young.

Speaking of which…

“How old are you? Hold up your fingers to count.” Clint instructed, and thought for a moment it was counter-productive as the Kid probably didn’t know how to count yet. But the blond held up his palm, indicating he was five.

That was good; at least the Kid could count. 

He thought about the fact the kid had literally disappeared, but didn’t think much of it, it was already dark and he could have simply been imagining it. Though if what he’d seen really did happen, then it would definitely make this more interesting.

“First things first then, we’re gonna go con some people for money.” Clint deadpanned.

Strangely enough, the Kid looked at him disapprovingly. He shouldn’t really know what that meant, but, eh whatever.

“Well it’s not like I’m gonna steal it from them. Not that desperate, or would you prefer to go dumpster diving and smelling worse than we already do? Speaking of which, gotta find some place to clean up…” Clint trailed off and Joey had a feeling that he talked to himself a lot.

Oh well, least he wasn’t going to be left alone. He didn’t think he could handle that. He did briefly wonder where those bagels came from though.


	2. Caged

Clint was starting to finally think he should’ve just taken the Kid to the hospital and be done with it, but the baby seemed to freak out at the mention of a hospital and would latch onto his leg, making it extremely awkward to walk until he gave in and said he wouldn’t.

While he was still going to keep his promise, he was trying to be realistic about this. He could take care of himself, having the responsibility of looking after another human being was something he had no real expertise in. He’d always been the little brother, the one that gets looked after, not the other way around. 

He once again told himself not to get too attached, since the second things got out of hand or too much, he had to admit it was better to leave the Kid where he knew he could be properly looked after. Though the stigma of an orphanage made him reel and resolved if it did come down to it he’d leave the Kid in a good orphanage. 

After he counted the money he still had from his time in the circus and the panhandling he did earlier, the two of them headed to the Goodwill store he’d seen around in town, never having thought he’d have to get clothes from there, but with how his life was, he was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner.

He cautiously wrapped his arms around the Kid’s waist to lift him off the ground, and while the kid griped his arms, he didn’t thrash out. Clint took that as a good sign and lifted the Kid up enough to see into the box. “Pick out whatever clothes you want.” He said and the baby nodded.

Joey looked through the items nervously, but since no one was yelling at them to leave the stuff alone, he assumed it was okay. Most of the stuff was too big for him, but the ones that weren’t he picked out and finally, with a small armful of clothes, he wriggled to be set down and soon his feet were planted back on the floor. 

Clint looked over the pile and picked out only two pairs of shirts and jeans before his eyes settled on a duffel bag and he put all the clothing in it and slung it over his shoulder before taking the Kid’s hand back in his and the two of them left the building. 

The older blond stopped at a convenience store and thought about what a Kid might need to eat. Milk and break seemed to be a safe option, he thought as he shouldered the duffel bag and took a small carton of milk out of the refrigerator and grabbed a loaf of bread before heading up to the counter. The clerk gave them both an odd look that Clint ignored as he glanced down at the Kid. 

“You want anything else?” he asked and saw the Kid looked over the candy bars in wide-eyed amazement before settling on a Snickers bar and Clint got himself a pack of gum. He took the money out of his pocket and let go of the Kid’s hand to open the duffel bag and after paying for the items, put them into it and zipped it back up, shoulder it in one motion and grabbed the Kid’s hand again before they walked out of the store.

Clint thought over the places in town he’d seen yesterday and remembered seeing a motel on the edge of town, though the more he though the more he thought about it, he felt something was off about the place. More off about it being something other than a motel as while he’d seen cars outside, most of the patrons going in looked like truckers or something of the like. 

Clint shook his head before looking down at the Kid. “Kid, we’re going to be doing a bit of walking, so when you get tired, tell me, got it?” he questioned, and while the Kid glared at him at the ‘when,’ making Clint think the Kid was taking offence to it, but nodded anyway.

The older blond kept his senses on alert as he wasn’t about to let his guard down and let his money get pinched. Or worse, let the Kid get snatched from him. He still though had to try and get him talking, if only to learn his name and not have to call him ‘Kid’ anymore. 

Clint soon felt the Kid lean into his side and he glanced down to see him barely keeping his eyes open and he rolled his eyes before scooping the Kid into his arms and resting him against his shoulder, letting him use the duffel bag as a makeshift pillow. 

He didn’t know how long he walked, but he was starting to feel fatigued as he made it to the place, having the name of the Roadhouse, and he pondered the name for a moment before shrugging one shoulder and headed inside. 

Clint’s nose turned up at the smell of smoke hitting his sense of smell and ignored the sudden stares he received before walking over to the counter after realizing what this place also was. He sat down at the table and the woman behind the counter folded her arms. He knew how ridiculous he must have looked, with a toddler over one shoulder and both of them looking all grungy. 

But from what he saw of the other patrons, that may not be so out of place than the fact the Kid was a toddler and he was only 15, a lot younger than most of these patrons from the looks of it too. Besides, it wasn’t their alcohol he wanted, and from how it had destroyed his life the smell made him want to throw up in disgust. 

“You got a vacancy we can crash in? I’ve got money to pay for a room.” He muttered. 

“Aren’t you a little young to be in a bar, kid?” The older looking woman said emphasizing the final word and Clint grounded his teeth.

“We got nowhere else to go right now, and it’s getting dark out, so ya got any room or what?” Clint snapped feeling very tired all of a sudden. He was in no mood to be polite, and if he got kicked out, well, then he and the Kid could just crash out in some alley again. 

To his immense surprise, the woman just snorted at his bravado. “Room for two cost 20, and don’t take anything.” She said warningly and Clint nodded warily. “Jo!”

A younger blonde peered around the corner as Clint took out the money from his pocket and put it down on the table. “Yeah mom?” 

“Take the munchkins to one of the two bed rooms.” The woman replied and Clint sent the woman a half-hearted scowl as he was too tired to really care anymore.

“Sure thing, come on boy.” This Jo woman said and Clint got off his seat and followed her down the hall. “Cute kid, is he your brother?”

Clint blinked. But eh, he could pass off as the Kid’s brother; they both had blond hair at least, though the Kid had the oddest colored eyes he’d ever seen. “Yeah, he’s five.” He replied before falling into silence until they stopped at a room, and he went into it after the woman bid him goodnight and he looked around the room. 

It had two beds, and thankfully a bathroom. But the TV was a nice touch, though he never really found any use to watch it. He set the Kid down onto one of the beds after locking the door and he opened his amber eyes sleepily while making a drinking gesture and Clint nodded before taking the carton of milk out of the duffel bag.

He furrowed his brow at the fact it was still as cold as when he’d put it into the bag, but thought little of it as he opened it and handed it to the Kid, who started gulping it down and eventually started choking. Clint patted the baby’s back until the coughing stopped.

“Don’t drink it so fast Kid, you’ll get a stomach ache.” He advised before taking the bread out and gave him a slice, the Kid nibbling on it experimentally before taking bigger bites until it was gone. He held out his hand again and Clint gave him another slice before eating one himself and took out the Snickers bar, the boy’s eyes lighting up and the lights overhead glowed brightly.

Clint looked up and then at the Kid, who seemed to freeze, but he deliberately downplayed his reaction so not to freak the Kid out. He’d been in a circus; there wasn’t a lot that could surprise him. “You get half now and the other half tomorrow to make it last, got it?”

The Kid nodded after a moment of assessing Clint’s reaction to the lights and smiled when he held out his hand. Clint felt something clench in his chest again as he numbly handed the Kid half of the bar. 

“Don’t eat it so fast, don’t want you getting sick on me.” He tried to joke, but he really didn’t want the Kid to get sick on him.   
He’d have no idea what to do; he wasn’t a parent, or even a big brother. The Kid nodded in a serious way that Clint once again found to be too disturbing an expression on such a young face. “Tomorrow you can take a bath if you want and put on your new old clothes, alright?” The child nodded again and Clint nodded back before going to take a shower himself.

Afterwards and changing out of his clothing into new old ones, Clint saw the Kid lying curled up on the bed, already asleep again. He walked over to him and lifted him just enough to pull the covers on him and walked over to his own bed for the night and shut the light off and got under the covers before closing his eyes and falling asleep. 

\----------------------------------------------

Clint awoke to what he thought was knocking and he blearily opened his eyes, strands of blond hair that was definitely not his taking up his vision and he glanced down to see the Kid curled up at his chest. Clint summarized the Kid couldn’t handle sleeping in his own bed, and strangely he wasn’t all that annoyed with being used as a human teddy bear. 

He did find getting up early to be annoying though. 

Clint pried the child’s tiny fists off his shirt and walked over to the door, opening…only to find no one there. He felt his brow tick before he looked down and paled. 

On the floor in front of the room was his wheeled pack that he’d had at the circus and on top it was another white Denny’s bag, the scent of bagels once again hitting his nose. He blinked as he tried to process he was really seeing the stuff he’d left at the circus and how it could have possibly gotten here. It left him bemused as he picked up the bag and wheeled his pack inside, kicking the door closed behind him, the Kid having woken up at the sound and looked over at him.

He looked as confused as Clint felt at that moment. “I have no idea where this came from. But free food’s free food.” He said shrugging and set the Denny’s bag on the bed to let the Kid have first pick as he put the pack beside him and looked through it. 

All his stuff was here, his bow, his arrows, his knives, his…

Clint furrowed his brow at the small package inside and when he opened it, a blast of ink came out and sprayed across his face. He blinked his eyes open and wiped the gunk away from his eyes as well when he heard the soft giggling. 

He turned to look down in amazement as he realized the noise had come the Kid, and he couldn’t bring himself to get angry at whoever thought it’d be funny to prank him with a dye pack. “You eat your bagel; I’m going to go wash this mess off my face.” he said picking up the dye pack and tossing it into the garbage and proceeded to wash the stuff off his face as best as he could.

His face was mostly clean, though the ink had left the unfortunate side effect of making it look like he was bruised up in some places on his face, most notably around one eye and his cheek. He shrugged as he’d just have to try and wash it away latter.

He came out and found the Kid was finished eating and moving into the bathroom passed him, and without a word, like always, closed the door behind him, a change of clothes in hand. Clint sat down on the bed and ate the remaining two bagels the Kid left him and started inspecting his equipment to make sure whoever put the dye pack in his case didn’t do anything to anything else. 

‘Cause you know, doing something to his knives or bow could results in a rather terrible situation. 

Once he was satisfied that there was nothing wrong with his stuff, he briefly turned on the TV as there was nothing to do. He flipped through the channels, only stopping once to watch some guy in a blue uniform with pointed ears squeeze another’s shoulder and for him to collapse. He had to admit whatever that was called was cool.

He shut the TV off as the Kid comes out of the bathroom in his new old clothes and Clint checked how much money he had. “Hmm, I have enough money to get some more food later, but we’re gonna have to leave now, alright?” he questioned and the Kid nodded before his tone suddenly indicated he was now talking to himself. “Now we just gotta find some place to stay for the night again.”

The Kid squeaked and Clint whirled around to see a small envelope drop onto his bed. He narrowed his eyes and picked it up cautiously before opening it and it sprayed out some white powder at his face and he snorted, though once again he couldn’t bring himself to be angry since it got another giggle out of the Kid.

He just wished this wasn’t happening at his expense though. 

Clint ran his hand through his hair and shook it out of the blond locks and wiped the powder off his face and dropped the envelope, letting a smaller plastic bag fall out and inside was a folded up paper and a card he recognized as a bus pass. 

The blond felt his skin and scalp start to itch and he absently scratched before his brow twitched and he also realized what the powder had been. “Itching powder, you’ve got to be kidding me.” He hissed as he scratched at his face and hair until he stopped when the effect faded somewhat. 

Clint saw the Kid staring at him and felt an unease settle in his stomach. “What?” The Kid pointed at his face and the older blond walked over to the bathroom to see several red scratches on his face, some of them starting to bleed. He groaned and rinsed his face off, the stinging making him cringe before using the bottom of his shirt as a makeshift towel and went back out into the main room. 

“Alright, time to head out,” he said taking out the paper, “looks like we got another place to go to.”

\---------------------------------------------

Clint awkwardly looked over the map with one hand as he felt the Kid’s arms tighten around his neck and pulled his pack, strapped on top of it being their duffel bag. He didn’t know how long they’d been walking, but he knew he wasn’t going to let the Kid tire himself out after they’d gotten off at the bus stop. 

He could make the walk, it would take some time of course to actually get to wherever it was they were going, and while he was still being wary of the whole thing, he needed to think about the Kid. And since the Kid still freaked about being separated from him, leaving the Kid someplace to get taken to a home was out.

He briefly wondered how this was any better, but brushed it aside. Again, he’d seen a lot of strange things in his life.

Clint felt the Kid rest his head on his shoulder and he felt the need to reassure the Kid for some reason. “Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine. We’re almost there-I think.” He added in a mutter as he didn’t know how far away exactly the place they had to go was. 

He glanced down at the map, and furrowed his brow when he saw that the circled spot was where they were at now, though there hadn’t been anything in sight. “Aw, don’t tell me we’re being sc-messed with.” He muttered and when he looked back up, he jerked back at the sight of the old one story house that had definitely not been there a minute ago.

Did he need glasses or something? Clint dismissed the thought as ridiculous as his sight was perfect, but he cautiously approached the house and felt the Kid move his head off his shoulder, letting him know he was probably looking at it too. 

He pushed the door open and aside from the dust it didn’t look too bad, just abandoned. “Looks like we’ve found our place to stay for the night.” He said closing the door behind him and walking around the hall until they came to a bed room and he put the pack and duffel bag in the corner and let the Kid get off his back. 

Clint was about to leave when the Kid grabbed onto his arm and he looked down at him. “You want me to stay in here with you?” he questioned, but since the Kid had gotten out of his own bed at the motel it really shouldn’t surprise him. “Well, alright then.” He said and tucked the Kid in before lying down on top of the covers and tey both drifted off to sleep. 

The teenager only awoke to the sunlight shining in through the window and he blinked his eyes open, looking around sleepily before the drowsiness faded completely and his eyes widened in disbelief. “How can this be, everything was all old and dusty.”  
He said to himself as he looked around the suddenly clean room, not a trace of dust on anything unlike the previous night.

Clint got off the bed and looked out of the room, his gut starting to churn and went back over to the window, pushing on the glass to let some hair in, but while the lock came undone, the window wouldn’t budge. Clint pounded his fist against it, even if it meant cutting up his hand, but it only sent shockwaves along his fist and up to his shoulder.

The teen pulled his hand back and raced out of the room toward the door, unlocking it and tried to pull it open, only to get the same result as the window. He tried all the other windows before he came to one realization.

They were trapped inside this house.


	3. In The Middle Of the Night

Clint started pacing in front of the door in the kitchen, having tried and failed to open it just a few moments ago. He was starting regret following the damn map and should’ve been more suspicious of this whole thing and now he and the Kid were stuck in this house. It was weird, the place had definitely been dusty and old the last night, but now it looked brand new. 

The Kid was at the table, eating the bagels that had appeared on the table and he’d wanted to punch something. Especially once he actually did try and punch window over the sink the water from the tap sprayed up at him, and like everything else, it got a giggle out of the Kid.

He still wouldn’t talk, so Clint had no idea if he even realized why they hadn’t left. And he didn’t know if the Kid could write or not. He knew the Kid knew his numbers at least. Though he hoped the Kid really didn’t realize what was going on, since he didn’t want him to freak out or anything. 

Clint noticed that there was no calendar or anything other things to tell him the time, but the outside indicated that it was still morning. And for now that seemed to serve as the only time frame they had was the look of the weather outside. 

The blond felt the water on his face dry up and he decided to have another look around. The kitchen looked nice and new, and so had the room they slept in, but when he looked again he found there was another room, this one with a smaller bed that was obviously meant for a child. Clint kept thinking he was missing something, and this officially topped his strangeness radar. 

He heard a loud squeak and the lights in the hall shattered. He covered his head to avoid getting hit with the glass, but there was no feeling of tiny shards cutting into his skin and he looked up to find the lights all fixed. He furrowed his brow before rushing back into the kitchen and found a coloring book on the table with crayons, but the Kid wasn’t anywhere in sight.

“Kid?” he called, before remembering the first night he’d met the Kid and stared at the seat he should’ve been in. “Kid, are you there?” he saw the air shift before the Kid came back into view and looked at him with wide eyes. He tried to imagine why the Kid looked so scared and forced himself not to raise his hands as the child probably wouldn’t have taken it well. “Look, I’m not sure what’s going on, but could you always do that?”

The Kid kept staring at him before slowly shaking his head and looked up at the lights, making Clint figure that the lights in here had also exploded. 

“Are you alright?” he asked and the Kid blinked. “Right, dumb question.” He amended. “The lights didn’t cut you anywhere, right?” he asked and the baby shook his head. “That’s good.” He said awkwardly and only then did the Kid’s eyes narrow back to a more normal size and look at the book like he didn’t know what it was.

Clint felt something tighten in his gut. “It’s a coloring book,” he stated apathetically, “you use those crayons to draw in the pictures inside.” He droned and thought about the fact it’d probably keep the Kid occupied for at least an hour or so. 

Something lit up in the Kid’s eyes, and he opened the book after taking out a crayon and started writing something down on the white blank space on it and then pulled back before pointing at the letters. “Joey…” Clint sounded out before realizing that this was the Kid’s name. “Well at least now I can stop calling you ‘Kid’.” He joked and the Ki-Joey smiled slightly and flipped the page before he started coloring in the picture on it. 

Clint decided to take a more thorough look through the kitchen and see if he could use anything to bust them out of the house. He looked through the cupboards, but they were bare, and save for the food for them to eat in the fridge and freezer, there wasn’t a single utensil he could’ve used to try and pick the lock. 

Clint walked into the living room and tried the TV to see if he could gleam anything from the news, but a sinking feeling started to form in his stomach when he couldn’t even find that; nothing was on save for child-friendly shows that a toddler would watch. He blinked and stared in the direction Joey was in, the suspicion growing stronger before he remembered the radio he kept in the pocket of his pack.

He ran up down the hall as fast as he could and dropped to his knees as he opened his pack and pulled out the blue handheld radio in triumph and started to turn the dial, relieved to hear something akin to news. “Yes!” he hissed and heard a broadcast came through. “Come on, give me something good.” He muttered as he put the radio near his ear.

The broadcast came through clearly, but the words made Clint freeze. “You want something good? I think that can be arranged.” 

Clint felt his eyes go wide when he felt a hand run up his back and he jumped up and whirled around, his eyes darting around the room, but there was no one there. The feeling of suspicion got worse and he waved his free hand out in front of him, not knowing if someone really was in the room with him. But he’d seen Joey turn invisible right in front of his eyes, so there was a chance someone was in the room, he just couldn’t see them. 

Clint felt his occupied hand clench and he looked down to see the radio had vanished. He looked around once more before rushing out of the room and back into the kitchen, Joey still coloring in the book. “Joey…” He began and the boy looked up at him. “Do you think you can try and turn invisible again?” 

Joey furrowed his brow as he thought about the previous times he’d done it. The first had been when his parents died, the next had been when the coloring book had appeared in front of him and the lights had exploded. He concentrated with all his might on trying to turn invisible again, but he only saw the light around him make him half-transparent before he gave up and shook his head.

Clint didn’t look too disappointed, but he did look worried. Joey didn’t know why he was so worried. He himself felt alright, even better than alright. But if Clint said they had to go, then he’d go. He was embarrassed to admit that even before Joey had stumbled onto Clint that he was afraid of the dark. Though unlike his parents; Clint didn’t get angry when he crawled into their bed during the night. 

“That’s alright, I was just wondering.” Clint said faintly before walking back into the living room and sitting down on the couch. “Just tell me when you get hungry.” Seeing as their stomachs were going to be one of their time frames, but looking out the window he had to guess it was sometime well into the day. 

Clint didn’t know when he fell asleep, but he was awoken by a small hand persistently shaking his arm. He opened his eyes and saw Joey staring at him seriously, making the teen think of how again that expression didn’t fit onto such a young face. “Wha…?” he groaned before the boy held up a paper he must have torn out from the coloring book. 

The paper had ‘hungry’ written on it and Clint stared for a moment at the conspicuously neat writing before he nodded and got off the couch. 

“Okay, I’ll make ya something. Better warn ya though, my skills are a little rusty.” He said lightly as Joey followed him into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. He looked through the cupboard again, amusingly thinking there’d be nothing there, but his amusement turned to suspicion again as he saw only a few forks and he remembered seeing TV dinners in the freezer and he sighed, but took the utensils as he wasn’t going to let the kid starve.

Clint heated up the dinners one at a time and saw Joey’s face scrunch up in concentration, the older boy wondering what he was trying to do until he saw him become half-invisible again. “Hey now, don’t tire yourself before you’ve even eaten.” He warned and the kid stayed fully visible.

Joey looked at the tray set in front of him before obediently starting to eat, the mature eating habit unsettling Clint greatly as he forced himself not to wonder what Joey’s life was like. If it was anything like how own, he certainly didn’t want to know.

He set his own plate down before starting to eat his meal, the only sound being the faint car noises that made Clint want to run to the window and bang on it for them to help get them out of the house. He knew it wouldn’t work if he tried and he’d probably only end up getting hit or sprayed with something.

At least Joey would get a kick out of his humiliation. 

\--------------------------------------

Clint yawned as he tucked Joey into his bed, who was looking back up at him with wide, terrified eyes. “Hey, it’s only night, nothing’s gonna get you.”

The baby gave him a dubious gaze that read, ‘are you sure?’ and he felt distinctly unnerved by it. 

“No, I’m not sure.” He admitted quietly. “But I promise I’ll make sure nothing gets you.” He said earnestly and the child relaxed somewhat before tentatively closing his eyes. Clint was about to turn off the light when he thought better of it. If the kid was scared of the dark, he wasn’t about to intentionally scare him further.

The teen made his way into the darkened hall and climbed into his own bed, crawling under the sheets before lying down and closed his own eyes, the only sound in the otherwise eerily silent house being the sound of his own breathing. 

As he slept, suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and felt something slid up his back. His hand shot out and his fist connected solidly with something before he turned in the bed to sit upright and looked over the side, and narrowed his eyes upon seeing nothing. 

As he looked back down he noticed the second form in the bed and he sighed as he glanced out at the lightened room. “At least you tried.” He said quietly as he pulled the covers up to Joey’s neck and he boy snuggled further into the pillow he was practically lying on. 

Clint got out of the bed to turn off the light in the other room and walked back to crawl back into bed, making sure to lie near the edge of the bed to be sure he was just imagining what he felt. 

And as the night goes on he keeps thinking the feeling of something sliding up and down his back was just his imagination as well.


End file.
